In today’s world, tile has become a household name, and has continued to retain its popularity. They are not only strong and durable, but they also add a stylish finishing touch. Either floor tiles or wall tiles, come in a range of colors, textures, and shapes, and they require little upkeep.
If you don’t know what shapes tiles come in, you can click here to learn about Exploring the variety of tile shapes: From classic to contemporary
These unique features essentially depend on material choice. They are one of the most adaptable flooring and walling materials available due to the wide range of colors and designs offered. This versatility gives homeowners a diverse selection of tile material options.
You have a variety of possibilities, ranging from little mosaic tiles to bigger-sized tiles. You may also find long-lasting ceramic wood tiles that look like hardwoods.However, essentially based on material type, not all tiles are created equal, and their usefulness for different home spaces differs as well.
Tile has long been a popular choice for bathrooms, but it is also a popular choice for dining rooms, kitchens, entryways, hallways, mudrooms, and laundry rooms. Porcelain and glazed ceramic tiles are the best and most durable tile flooring alternatives. They are also simple to care for.
Tile prices vary greatly based on the material, size, and design. Tiles are not a costly flooring material, but the cost might rise when installation is included. You may easily do some minor tiling yourself, but if your project is more large and difficult, it is best that you consider hiring a professional and experienced Tile Installer for the best outcome of your project.
Also, it is beneficial to keep in mind that wet tiles are dangerous. To avoid some form of domestic accidents, the tile design must give adequate foot traction. As a result, non-slip tiles should always be used in areas such as mudrooms, entryways, and bathrooms.
In this review, George Ceramic will examine various major tiles, rule out which is best in terms of material and properties, and create a link to where they are most suitable for the application.
Glazed vs. Unglazed
Glazed and unglazed tiles are created in the same fashion, but Glazed Porcelain Tiles are coated with liquid glass. This additional layer of glass adds a lovely gloss to glazed tiles while also protecting them from spills and stains.
While both glazed and unglazed tiles are incredibly durable, unglazed tiles are more vulnerable to dampness, stains, and scratches due to their lack of protection.
Ceramic Tiles
Ceramic tiles are a versatile and popular choice since they can be used for a variety of purposes. Because of its cost and durability, ceramic is a wonderful choice for any room in your home, including the bathroom, kitchen, and front entrance. Glazed ceramic tiles are more stain and damage-resistant than wood, carpet, or even vinyl plank flooring.
Porcelain Tiles
Porcelain is a more refined type of clay ceramic tile. Porcelain tiles are more durable (and more expensive) than red clay ceramic rivals because they are made with a greater ratio of silica and quartz and baked or fired at a higher temperature.
Porcelain tiles are a chameleon in that they come in a broad range of colors and designs. Porcelain tiles can be glazed, etched, and texturized to seem like hardwood planks, pricey marble, or industrial bricks.
Keep in mind that a do-it-yourself project involving the installation of porcelain tile might cause some complications since porcelain is a stronger and denser material than ceramic and requires the use of a specialized tool, a diamond blade wet saw.
Glass Tiles
Sparkling glass tiles provide a stylish backsplash or shower tile. Despite being resistant to red wine and acidic lemon juice, glass tiles offer the highest stain resistance of any tile. Glass tiles have one disadvantage in that they can easily be chipped and broken if an item is dropped, so they are best used on walls.
Quarry
Quarry tile is a hard, impermeable pavement tile made from pulverized minerals that are molded and burnt in the same way as brick is. They are generally harder than traditional clay bricks due to the minerals used and the high firing temperatures.
Quarry tiles, unlike clay terracotta, are not porous and will not absorb water; also, quarry tile lacks a top glaze covering, unlike ceramic tile and porcelain.
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock with distinctive veining. It has a similar look to granite and comes in a range of colors, forms, and sizes. However, because marble is more porous than granite, it is more prone to stains and scratches. If you want to place marble in a high-traffic area of your house, ensure it is regularly polished and sealed.
Marble, while often considered one of the more costly natural stone tile choices, is an exquisite and bold option, exuding an elegance and flair that is difficult to match with other materials.
Marble, which is deeply veined with natural mineral lines, is generated under enormous heat and pressure – and can withstand the heat and stress of everyday life quite well. Perhaps no other type of tile can as profoundly transform a place as marble tiles.
The natural stone provides tremendous depth and contrast, presenting a brilliant array of color veining, and is naturally available in a wide range of colors, including green, grey, beige, white, and black.
Granite
Granite is a dense, long-lasting igneous rock. Because of its robustness, it is an excellent choice for high-traffic areas of your home, such as your kitchen. Granite flooring is completely waterproof and may be polished to be scratch-resistant.
It is popular among homeowners because of its distinctive veining. It’s also quite customizable, with hundreds of various colors, styles, patterns, and versions to choose from. Granite is more durable than marble and hence less prone to chipping and cracking.
Granite is an excellent choice for wet areas or countertops since it is relatively resistant to moisture and stains. Granite, which is often found in bigger-sized slabs, is not a material for the frugal or cost-conscious.
Terracotta
Traditional terracotta is a form of tile made from fairly coarse natural clay that is pressed into shapes and fired without the benefit of surface glazing. Thus, the color is usually a variation of reddish-orange, yellow, or brown, depending on the local clay used to make the tile.
Terracotta makes an excellent floor surface in Mediterranean- or Southwest-style homes where it lends a rustic charm, but it is a fairly high-maintenance tile that is easily stained unless it is regularly sealed.3
These tiles, in their basic square form, are usually available for less than $4 per square foot—sometimes as little as $1 per square foot—thanks to a relatively simple manufacturing process, in which raw clay is formed, and then fired. But designer tiles made from important clays, or those created by artisans, can cost considerably more, often rivaling natural stone.
Although it is a less common tile material, traditional concrete is also used to form tiles for floors and other applications. Consisting of a mixture of Portland cement and fine aggregate that is shaped and dried, concrete tile can be left in its traditional smooth gray form, or it can be textured and colored during the manufacturing process to resemble other forms of natural stone or quarry tile.
Concrete can be a good choice for providing bold colors where you want a more dramatic quarry-tile look. Most concrete tiles can also be painted after installation, allowing you to change their appearance when you want to redecorate.
On average, concrete tiles are relatively inexpensive and comparable to ceramic tiles. But textured, colored tiles can cost considerably more, making them comparable to good-quality porcelain tiles. They are almost always, however, more affordable than natural stone, and often hard to distinguish from the real thing.
Natural Stone
The most expensive, and arguably the most luxurious option when it comes to floor tiles is natural stone tile. These products are solid stone, are quarried in blocks then cut into tile shapes, and often polished to a smooth finish. The most common natural types of stone used for tiles are slate, granite, and marble.
While granite is a fairly water-resistant mineral, the same cannot be said of all forms of natural stone. Marble and slate, for example, will require regular sealing to keep them resistant to stains and water absorption.
Some natural stones can be surprisingly susceptible to scratching, so consider this when choosing a natural stone tile for high-use areas. Marble and slate, for example, can show the effects of foot traffic abrasion over time.On average, this is the most expensive of all hard tile materials.
Slate, limestone, and travertine are a little less expensive than granite, while marble is typically the most expensive natural stone—especially if it is imported from overseas. Installation costs can be somewhat higher than for other tiles, as natural stone is more difficult to cut and fit.
Generally speaking, tile is a good choice for any floor or wall (or other surface) where a durable, premium-looking finish is desired. Even the cheapest ceramic tile will make a bathroom look better than one finished with basic wallboard and vinyl flooring.
Your sure guide to determining the best material will be based strongly on the area of installation, safety, volume of traffic, or degree of stress it will undergo.
We also have an article called What Materials Are Used To Make Tiles? I hope it will be helpful to you.